Conference Dates: November 21st - 24th, 2024

Our speakers are for YOU!

We have purposefully designed a conference with multiple keynote speakers to reach all specialties within our diverse organization. We have found nationally known, leaders in their fields, heroes, and practitioners who are ready to inspire you, share the most current research, or provide you with new tools to use in your own setting. Here are some highlights:

Pre-Conference Offerings:

Thursday (11/21) from 2:00 - 5:00 (3 CEs)

Option 1: (TnSCA - TN School Counseling Association)

Speakers: Dr. Nicole Cobb

Title: School Counseling Equity and Access for All

Summary: The School Counseling Equity and Access for All presentation aims to address disparities in access to counseling services within educational institutions. By prioritizing equity, the program seeks to ensure that all students, regardless of background or circumstance, have equal opportunities to benefit from counseling support. This session will highlight how to promote inclusivity, identify barriers through data analysis and assessment, and how to provide ongoing training and development for school counselors to enhance their cultural competency.

Option 2: (TAMCD - TN Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development)

Speaker: Audrey Elion, Ph.D.

Title: Trauma and the Environment: Understanding how an individual’s mental health can be affected by environmental issues

Summary: This program addresses the urgent need to enhance awareness and skills in managing the psychological impacts of environmental challenges in all community settings. Studies have provided substantial proof that environmental factors influence mental health. This educational session will address various environmental triggers associated with mental health challenges. Evidence suggests that while some individuals may recover, others may develop more severe mental and behavioral outcomes.

Option 3: (LCA - Lookout Counseling Association)

Speaker: S. Tyler Oberheim, PhD, LPC-MHSP, NCC and Carisha Doty, MEd

Title: Trippin to Recovery: The Therapeutic Use of Psychedelics to Treat Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders

Summary: This presentation will include relevant clinical trials that support the utility of psychedelics as change agents, relevant literature related to using psychedelic-assisted therapy to treat mental health and substance use disorders, and legal and ethical considerations specific to this treatment modality. Additionally, the commonly used psychedelic substances, with focus on specific concerns treated by them, will be discussed as well as potential consequences of this treatment modality (i.e. cross-addiction) will be covered. Finally, implications for counselors and researchers will be covered including existing training programs/resources, how counselors can aid in this process and how researchers can further stimulate the reemergence of this trend in the professional counseling literature base.

Option 4: (TCA - TN Counseling Association)

Speaker: Lisa Henderson, LPC-MHSP

Title: Optimizing Client Care with AI = Maximizing the Benefits + Mitigating the Risks

Summary: This session explores Artificial Intelligence (AI) 's transformative role in mental health and school counseling when used effectively. Attendees will learn about the development of AI tools and how they can be seamlessly integrated into daily work to enhance client and student care, improve outcomes, and streamline administrative tasks. With counselors as informed consumers of AI tools we can mitigate the risks and realize the promises of AI on improving our work. If built and used well, AI promises to promote effective care over popularity-driven methods, overcome stigma rather than perpetuate it, and enhance rather than undermine the client-counselor relationship. This presentation will cover a range of topics and tools, including AI-driven assessment tools, personalized intervention strategies, ethical considerations, potential negative impacts, and the future of AI in mental health services. Through case studies, interactive discussions, and hands-on demonstrations, participants will learn how to leverage AI to support their clients ethically, efficiently, and effectively.

Register Here

Conference Keynote Speaker Information

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Lynn Linde “Counseling Profession Updates”

Keynote Speaker: Dr. David Ford

Keynote Speaker: Jeremy Cowart

Conference Registration is Open. Click here

Breakout Sessions - We accepted more sessions to give you more options!

Here is a list of just some of the breakout sessions we have planned for the conference:

“Helpers Gonna Help,” But Who Is Helping You? - Prioritizing Holistic Wellness in a Burnout Culture

"Inspiring SEL Excellence: Free Resources and Strategies to Empower Counselors and Beyond"

Addiction-Proofing Our Students in an Addictive World

Advocacy for All: Supporting Students, Clients, and Communities in Need

AI and counseling: An ethical perspective

AI in Counseling: Enhancing Ethical Practices for the Digital Age

And the Winner is….Understanding Moral Stress and Suicide Prevention for non-child Beauty Pageant Competitors

Beyond the Breaking Point: Understanding and Addressing Counselor Burnout

Big Emotions, Little Bodies: Helping Students Develop Self-Regulation Skills

Building Recovery Capital: A Framework for Supporting Clients in Substance Use Recovery

Case Conceptualization and Effective Treatment Planning in Counseling

Collaborative Partnerships in the School Setting: Working with Families, Teachers, and Community Organizations

Committing to Social Justice Through Relational Cultural Theory and the Multicultural and Social Justice Competencies

Compassion for All: Including Ourselves!

Counseling Correctional Clients: Addressing Challenges and Finding Support

Counseling for All Students: Partnerships between Rural School Counselors and Mental Health Professionals

Counseling LGBTQ+ Students in Rural Communities Using a Trauma-Informed Approach

Counseling Special Population: African Americans

Counseling Special Population: First Generation Americans/Immigrants

Counseling What Matters: Serving Under-Resourced Populations with Respect and Dignity

Cultural Humility as an Ethical Imperative

Cultural Responsiveness and Best Practices When Working with Unaccompanied Minors

Data-Driven School Counseling

DBT and the Dharma: the intersection of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Buddhist Psychology

Demystifying Dissociation: Developing a Deeper Understanding of Disconnection Created by Trauma

Effects of Military Sexual Trauma on Substance Use Patterns in Male Military Populations

Empowering Clients Through Spiritual Creative Arts Based Rituals for Grief Healing

Engaging veterans in counseling: Barriers to care and attending treatment

Enhancing Counseling Skills through Ethical Adoption of Unconventional Techniques

Fantastic Reality Ability: How Imagination and Trauma Intersect

For Real Life: Lessons learned from “Bluey” about parenting, partnerships, and ourselves.

Healing The Whole Person: Interdisciplinary Interventions for Trauma Work

How to Successfully Facilitate a 3-Day Intensive Treating Addiction and Trauma

Integration with Intentionality: An Introduction to Purposeful Integration of Counseling Theories

Interventions to Promote Cognitive and Experiential Integration in Group Counseling

Introduction to Adlerian Play Therapy

Medical Trauma and the LGBTQ+ community

Moral injury in black males with addiction: What is it and how can it play a role in treatment

Navigating Sexual & Religious Identities: Direct Care and Advocacy Strategies

Navigating the Political Landscape: Advocating for Counseling and Social Justice

No Talk Talk Therapy

Proactive pathways: Cultivating therapeutic alliances through intentional, targeted self-reflection.

Reunification Therapy: our ability as therapist to help families and provide support to the court system.

Rewriting Family Narratives: A Journey through Narrative Therapy in Family Counseling

Rewriting the Talk Therapy Session: How Creativity and Narrative Therapy Create More Dynamic Therapeutic Experiences

Rural Mothers’ Postpartum Social and Emotional Experiences: A Phenomenological Investigation of Tennessee Rural Communities

Sandtray Therapy and Polyvagal Theory: Applications to Regulate Ourselves and Our Clients

School Counselor Burnout and Supervision: Retention's Missing Link

School Counselor Self-Efficacy Serving ELLs and Newcomer Students

Sense of Belonging and Mental Health

Simple Somatic

Social Media, Online Presence, and Professional Ethics: Practical Considerations

Spirit Is Not Separate....Spirituality is Integrated

The Ethics of Social Media Usage as a Counselor

The Impact of Technology Interference on Military Couples

The Role of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Decreasing Suicide Risk Factors

The Science of Resiliency: Individual and Small Group Interventions to Enhance Youth Success and Wellness

The universality and diversity inherent in death and dying: We heal to live.

The Words of Columbine Still Echo: The Language of School Shooters and Imitation

Trauma, Religious Coping, and Meaning-Making of Spiritually Diverse Clients

Using ACT with Athletes

Vapelife, Liberty and the Pursuit of Fat Clouds: Understanding, Preventing and Intervening in Student Vaping

Vicarious Trauma: A First Responder's View

Wellness for All: Practical Use of the Indivisible Self Wellness Model in Counseling

When Your Body is a Walking Self-Disclosure: The Pregnant Therapist

Why Can’t I Be the Main Character?: The Depictions of Eating Disorders
in Films from 2000-2020

WTF? (What’s the Function?) And Other Questions in Response to Trauma

**This list is subject to change**

See the Full Conference Schedule Here

The Tennessee Counseling Association has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 2043. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Tennessee Counseling Association is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.